of what we’ve unleashed into own reflection caught in the the world. glass embedded into the center Piller’s sculptural works of Eyes of the Storm, Shifting are collections of “hyperobSystems, Removing Barriers. jects,” a term Timothy Morton By reflecting ourselves back coined to describe immense, to us, Piller’s surreal forms January 29– unseeable objects like the illuminate our complicity March 12, 2022 man-made masses of stuff that in making them come to life. have overtaken the human This is taken quite literally In Track 16’s gallery space, population and will far outlast in works that anthropomora creature emerged as if from any individual lifetime, or even phize the sculptures, like a rainstorm. It had tentacles that of an entire generation. ominous creatures that feel and cilia and crawled on 10 Atmospheric Pressures’ most alive despite their composite legs. Its back was a swirling, commonly used material, plastic forms. Hydroponic exposed membrane of news vinyl fabric, portrays one such Solutions, Atmospheric clippings and sliced vinyl, hyperobject: the over 4 million Changes. hangs bird-like from all smothered in glossy resin. metric tons of plastic sitting the ceiling. To create a beak Entitled Diversity of Voices, in global landfills as of 2018.² and long tail, Piller bound Re-hydrating. Resisting Another hyperobject, the 50 a palm frond with recycled Contamination. (all works million tons of e-waste genertape, tightly wrapped wire, 2021), the sculpture looks like ated each year,³ is represented and strips of vinyl. The work is a new link in the evolutionary via the latticed wire and broken garish and disturbing, and chain, a strange life born computer part adorning the it loomed above us in the from the amalgamation of spiraling vinyl sheets that make gallery as if implying that we trash Alicia Piller reanimated up Tectonic Plates, Shifting, only have ourselves to blame in her recent exhibition Polls. The numerous sculptures for its creation. Atmospheric Pressures. across Atmospheric Pressures Yet, despite my cynical A concern for the climate, that were molded into the outlook on the exhibition, waste, and humanity’s role form of a natural phenomenon I was surprised to hear the in the world’s decay is evident —an acid rain cloud, the eye artist discuss the works with from the materials Piller of a hurricane, a cresting a hopeful tone. In a talk she uses to create her sculptures, wave—encapsulated a more gave during the run of the constructions crafted from looming, conceptual hyper exhibition, Piller said that her salvaged items like discarded object: climate change and works begin with the obsessive warehouse flooring, plastics, all of the cumulative human collecting of discarded objects, laser-printed paper, flora, actions that have set it in a way of cataloging trash. geodes, mirrors, and electronic motion. The exhibition began Eventually, an object, like parts. Piller’s use of a seemwith modestly sized works the old cue ball at the center ingly infinite supply of garbage mounted on the wall or of Stabilizing Temperatures, activates a basic understandperched on a pedestal, and Break Cycles, Curb Disasters. ing of society’s ability to by the final room in the gallery, inspires an entire artwork. produce trash, but it also the sculptures had grown to In this work, the image attempts to quantify the take up entire walls—our of a woman whose son was unimaginable. While it’s own refuse easily overtaking murdered by the police in 2009 easy to find alarming global the available gallery space. is woven through the mass statistics about solid waste— Piller often brings the of destructive materials. for instance, the Environmental human form into her works, “I kept having this vision of Protection Agency states emphasizing our role in creatthese weeds growing through that landfills received 27 ing these harmful products. the cracks,” Piller explained. million tons of plastic waste Figures appear in laser prints, “If you have cement and in 2018¹—there’s a cognitive like the people attending there’s this beautiful flower gap between processing the a Trump rally collaged into coming through, it made it. numbers and being able to Clouded Thoughts, Drowning It lived through this concrete.”⁴ visualize them. Atmospheric Conversations. Deepening For Piller, a focus on resilience Pressures gave us a taste Fissures., or as a glimpse of our to the impacts of climate
Alicia Piller at Track 16
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Renée Reizman